Scorpions' riders in Under-21 shoot out

The Lincs FM Scunthorpe Scorpions have a week off from team action but Sunday's meeting at the Scunthorpe Raceway will be one of the most important meetings for several of the side as they compete against each other and nine visiting riders for three places in the British Under-21 Final.

Whilst several of the Scorpions will be looking to grab one of the three places, the visitors include five Premier League riders whilst the Boston Barracudas' Simon Lambert is another who knows the quickest way around the Scunthorpe track. Two year's ago the Newcastle Diamonds' Jamie Robertson won the meeting from Tommy Allen, William Lawson and former-Scorpion Danny Norton.

On Sunday he returns to represent his new club, the Workington Comets, along with his team mate and former Buxton Hitman Charles Wright. From Robertson's old club is Sean Stoddart whilst Redcar's Jamie Courtney and Sheffield's James Cockle will also be looking to progress.

The format for the meeting will see the top two scorers after twenty qualifying races advance to the final whilst the third to sixth top scorers will race-off for the remaining two places in the final. From there the top three will progress to the British Under-21 Final, which takes place in two weeks time, Saturday 28th April, at Eastbourne.

Six riders have been seeded to the Eastbourne meeting will all of them riding in the Elite League this season:

Lewis Bridger (Eastbourne)
Edward Kennett (Poole)
Danny King (Peterborough)
William Lawson (Edinburgh and Wolverhampton)
Ben Wilson (Sheffield and Belle Vue)
James Wright (Workington and Belle Vue)

The first two semi-finals have already been run and last Friday, at Plymouth, Steve Boxall (Rye House), Luke Bowen (Rye House) and Adam Roynon (Rye House and Plymouth) qualified.

The three Rye House riders were joined by another tonight when the second semi-final was run at Weymouth. The three qualifiers were Ben Barker (Stoke), Lee Smart (Birmingham and Weymouth) and Mark Baseby (Sittingbourne).

The fourth-placed rider on Sunday will join Nicki Glanz (Plymouth) and Robert Mear (Rye House) in a run-off at Eastbourne, prior to the Final, to decide the 16th rider. The other two will act as meeting reserves. Five or six riders will progress from the British Under-21 Final through to the World Under-21 Championship rounds whilst the top three will also receive a place in the full British Final due to take place at Wolverhampton on 4th June and to be shown live on Sky Sports.